Ciri
It is Gale’s charming smile but the warmth of it doesn’t reach his eyes like it should.
A nonchalant shrug as The Thing That Is Not Gale keeps the secret of where the Gale she knew was now. She does not like the way he now looks at her stars, so similar to the way the real Gale had once studied them. She barely has time to shiver as he finally confirms that the stallion she had known is gone and not coming back. The grief has no time to register because then The Thing That Is Not Gale is trying to find it’s way through her stars and every second of energy is spent focused on keeping him from getting through.
She knows deep down that she is no match for him. Not for a magician that can shift into a thousand different things to hurt her, that can bring bone to life, that can heal himself after every hoof, bite, and burn she throws at him. There is also the warning bell in her head that night was fading and she will not be able to hold on to this shield forever. If she is still here by morning then she is done for. She cannot take on this thing alone.
Panic to tell Nashua about his brother overwhelms her need for vengeance and finally after her stars start to weaken, when whatever he throws at her starts to land, she gives a frustrated cry and finally flees from him. She hates this, hates leaving this unfinished, and vows to herself that somehow she will figure this out. Somehow she will make this right.
With gritted teeth and shame, she grabs on to the last dregs of energy and pushes herself to her boundaries as she darts away from him and prays he will not follow.
all of time and space, everywhere and anywhere, every star that ever was
@Gale